mountains

All posts tagged mountains

Return to the Swazi Mountaintop

Posted by 2summers on February 12, 2012
Posted in: Emotions and Grief, Swaziland. Tagged: , , , , , , , . 46 comments

There was a time when I didn’t believe in fate. I used to think life was one big coincidence. Then I came to Africa and changed my tune.

Five years ago, if I had visited a psychic and she had predicted where I would be today, I would have laughed in her face and walked out without paying. The life I’m leading now is so extraordinary — so utterly impossible – that I don’t believe it could be a coincidence. There must be some reason, some explanation. There must be some plan, of which I’m not yet aware.

A month ago, I wrote a blog post called ‘Land Rover on a Swazi Mountaintop‘. The post was about a photo I took three years ago in Swaziland’s Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary, at the top of Nyonyane Mountain. I visited Mlilwane with Jon in June 2008, and it was a very special place for us. Continue Reading

Crack-a-DOOO!

Posted by 2summers on November 7, 2011
Posted in: Parks and Nature Reserves, South Africa, Western Cape Province. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . 19 comments

Part 3 of a 3-part series about the Cederberg Heritage Route. Read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

When I left off, my travel companions and I had spent a magical evening in the village of Hugel-Bugel (a.k.a. Heuningvlei). We awoke early the next morning for the final installment of our Cederberg adventure: a hike across Krakadouw Pass.

Our guide for the day was Abraham, an ageless, salt-of-the-earth kind of man. Abraham has lived in Heuningvlei all his life. He has worked tirelessly to encourage conservation and responsible tourism in the Cederberg.

Abraham.

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The Magical Village of Hugel-Bugel

Posted by 2summers on November 3, 2011
Posted in: Arts, Culture and Sports, Parks and Nature Reserves, South Africa, Western Cape Province. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 30 comments

Part 2 of a 3-part series about the Cederberg Heritage Route. Read Part 1 here and Part 3 here.

When I left off at the end of my previous post, my two friends and I had just arrived via donkey cart in Heuningvlei, a traditional farming village in the Cederberg Wilderness Area. We were welcomed by three adorable children.

You met the boy on the left in my previous post.

I’m sort of at a loss on how to describe Heuningvlei. First, I’m incapable of pronouncing the word, which means ‘honey lake’ or ‘honey swamp’ in Afrikaans. It’s pronounced something like ‘HYEN-ing-fly’ but that’s not quite right. My friend Michelle (a fellow American non-Afrikaans speaker) christened the village ‘Hugel-Bugel’ and the name stuck. Continue Reading

Rock Art and Donkey Carts

Posted by 2summers on November 2, 2011
Posted in: Parks and Nature Reserves, South Africa, Western Cape Province. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 20 comments

Part 1 of a 3-part series. Read Part 2 here and Part 3 here.

It’s time to tell you what I was doing in the Western Cape last week, besides bumming around Bo-Kaap. The real purpose of my trip was to visit the Cederberg Wilderness, 240 kilometers northwest of Cape Town, and participate in a hiking adventure called the Cederberg Heritage Route.

The Cederberg Wilderness.

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Hogsback Packing

Posted by 2summers on September 16, 2011
Posted in: Eastern Cape Province, Markets and Shopping, Parks and Nature Reserves, Restaurants, Bars and Food, South Africa. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . 15 comments

I’m back in Joburg, recovering from jet lag.

Since I had to leave for the U.S. in such a rush last month, I didn’t get the chance to share all the stories from my road trip around South Africa. So even though it’s technically old news, I hope you’ll enjoy this post about my recent visit to the magical village of Hogsback.

A slightly edited version of the post appeared on TravelWrite.co.za – you’ll notice it has more of a travel-magazine-y feel than my other posts. Thanks to TravelWrite editor Caroline Hurry for coming up with this clever headline.

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It’s a chilly morning in Hogsback. Joe and I just finished a pre-breakfast hike to a majestic waterfall at the top of a mountain. We’re hungry. We are the only customers in the quirky Butterfly Bistro, sitting at a cozy table next to a clay fireplace. Continue Reading

7 Links: A Blog Award That Doesn’t Suck

Posted by 2summers on July 26, 2011
Posted in: Cape Town, Hillbrow and Yeoville, Johannesburg, Markets and Shopping, Restaurants, Bars and Food, South Africa, Swaziland. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , . 17 comments

Periodically, “awards” (otherwise known as chain letters) circulate through the blogosphere. One blogger nominates another for, say, “The Most Fabulous Blogger” award. That blogger writes a post accepting the award, says a few witty things about how honored she is to be considered fabulous, then nominates a number of other bloggers for the same award. The nominees are “encouraged” to respond, usually with threats of low traffic and bad juju for those who abstain (all in good fun, of course).

I’ve been nominated for such awards a couple of times, but never formally accepted my nominations. I certainly appreciated the recognition, but felt that my acceptance posts would be boring and incomprehensible to my non-blogging readers. Continue Reading

Am I a Photographer?

Posted by 2summers on July 1, 2011
Posted in: Johannesburg, Johannesburg City Centre, South Africa. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 37 comments

This week I attended a Q&A discussion with David Goldblatt, one of South Africa’s most legendary photographers, at the Market Photo Workshop in Joburg. The Market Photo Workshop, which Goldblatt founded in the 1980s, is a school for aspiring photographers, many of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds. The Workshop is currently running an exhibition of Goldblatt’s photographs that lasts until the end of July.

The Q&A was moderated by three Workshop students, who asked Goldblatt a series of questions and then took questions from the audience. I was enthralled by every second of the hour-long discussion.

Goldblatt, with his photos behind him, speaks before a rapt audience during the Q&A.

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Kruger at Ground Level, Part 3: Mineral

Posted by 2summers on June 29, 2011
Posted in: Limpopo Province, Parks and Nature Reserves, South Africa. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 11 comments

Welcome to the final blog post about my hike through the Kruger Park’s Pafuri Triangle: the mineral installment. Most of the facts in this post were gleaned from Brian, our Pafuri wilderness guide, and Wikipedia.

If you’ve read parts 1 and 2 of this series, you know that the Pafuri Triangle is chock-full of majestic African wildlife and awe-inspiring trees. But Pafuri also has rocks. And water. And an amazing geological and archaeological history. Geology and archaeology aren’t my specialties, but this post is an excuse to show you some of my favorite pics from the trip that don’t feature animals or plants.

Water is a mineral, right? Either way, I really like this picture.

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Kruger at Ground Level, Part 2: Vegetable

Posted by 2summers on June 26, 2011
Posted in: Limpopo Province, Parks and Nature Reserves, South Africa. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 20 comments

Announcements:

1) A story about my Kruger trip has been published on travelgurus.co.za. Please check it out.

2) 2Summers turned one today! I wrote my first 2Summers post exactly a year ago, six weeks before moving to Jozi. If you want to know how it all started, click here.

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On to Part 2 of my hiking adventure in the Kruger Park: the vegetable installment.

I experienced some pretty incredible (and adrenaline-inducing) animal sightings on my four-day hike through the Pafuri Triangle (see Part 1). But as I sat on the flight home and thought about it, I decided my favorite sightings in Pafuri were plants, specifically trees. Continue Reading

Kruger at Ground Level, Part 1: Animal

Posted by 2summers on June 23, 2011
Posted in: Limpopo Province, Parks and Nature Reserves, South Africa. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 32 comments

A big thank you to travelgurus.co.za and Wilderness Adventures for making this blog post possible.

Last weekend I visited Kruger National Park, the largest park in South Africa. This wasn’t just any old Kruger safari, either. I went to the remotest and most beautiful section of the park — the Pafuri Triangle.

A view of the Limpopo River, just before my plane landed at Pafuri Camp. The Pafuri Triangle is in the far northern corner of the Kruger Park, wedged between the Limpopo and Luvuvu Rivers and the borders of Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

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